These Healthy, Naturally High-Protein, Low-Calorie, Sugar-Free and Virtually Fat-Free Peanut Butter Bars are made with only whole foods (no protein powders!) and also easy and very fast to prepare!:)Hi friends! 🙂

…Oh, and did I mention that they also taste sooooo good?Alright! If you can’t wait to see how they’re made just hop down to the recipe! But – because all the secret ingredients and special techniques that go into making these Bars you’ll find in the recipe anyways, I won’t bore you with all the “what they’re made out of” talk!

…Instead I’m want to talk about the relation between eating sugary foods and our beautiful appearance. Also I’m going to mention some of my favorite ways to minimize the amount of sugar in my diet!

So… how does sugar affect our appearance?

Well… it does hurt our waistline! 🙂

But this isn’t the worst one in my opinion! What I hate most, is that sugar causes inflammation! Which means early skin aging and uneven skin tone. Besides, it just generally hurts our whole body! And this way or another if our body is hurt – it’ll never really look good! (At least it’s what I believe).

Sounds scary doesn’t it? But does that mean that we should adapt a “boring” sugarless life and start eating kale for lunch, dinner and dessert? Um… no! (OK, unless it’s one of those kale brownies that I need to put on my to-make list! 🙂 )

But then… how can you reduce the sugar in our diet?

(Without becoming depressed from feeling deprived?)

(Note: if you’ve followed me for a while you know that I am opposed to all kinds of extremes! This topic isn’t an exception!) So here’s what helped me if not eliminate completely, but drastically reduce my consumption of the unhealthy sugar:

I feast on the sweet fruit! When I wake up and after I’ve had a glass of water and a cup of my favorite vanilla-scented black tea (so flavorful – no sweeteners needed!), I crave something sweet because it instantly makes me more alert and awake. I guess it’s because the sugar goes straight into your blood… Anyway – my sugar fix is… yes! Lots, and LOTS of fresh fruit! As much as I want! My favorites are blueberries and melons! And if I want to enjoy my “Dessert for Breakfast” – I’m just going to bake some naturally sugar-free bars (such as these down below)! And eat one… or two! Yummmmmm! 🙂

I eat the sweet veggies! Because yes, there is sugar in the veggies! At lunch – guess what? I also crave some sugar! My fix: tomatoes (if they’re in season – they’re SOOO sweet!) or tomato sauce. But my favorites are sweet corn and winter squash! And let me tell you – after feasting on my favorite baked kabocha squash (it’s even sweeter than the butternut) – I feel soooo satisfied!

I eat (or drink) “flavorful” sweets: the extra-dark chocolate has little sugar in it, yet the strong chocolate flavor really makes up for it! I also like adding cinnamon to my coffee – It makes it so flavorful and aromatic – very little sugar needed!

Give it time! Because (from my own experience) if you’re USED to eating real sugary brownies or marshmallows – it’ll be hard to replace them all with blueberries and feel just as satisfied! Just like it’d be difficult to run a marathon if you’ve been a couch potato for awhile. 🙂 But it’s not that you CAN’T ever do it! You can – if you train yourself by slowly acquiring the healthier habits so that they become your NEW NORM. And getting a dose of this “norm” is what we really crave! The little “fixes” that we know will make us feel good! Because having all these “fixes” gives us comfort. At least it’s always been like this for me! 🙂

…So what are some of your favorite ways to have a sweet cake and be able to actually eat it? (Without compromising your health and beautiful appearance? ☺️) I’d love to hear all about it in the comments below! And.. treat yourself for some dessert! 🙂

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I love your examples here of how to reduce sugar in your diet. I’m going to incorporate these into our lifestyle. My hubby is such a sugar-holic – making these delicious substitutions will really help make a difference in his eating habits. One question – will I find pb powder at a regular grocery store or health food store?

Oh, thanks, Debra! I know – I’m fighting a battle with my family members every day trying to help them to stay away from too much sugar! 🙂 And I just added the links to the powdered PBs that I use to recipe notes. 🙂 You can buy the powdered PB in Whole Foods and I order the powdered almond butter from Amazon because one of my sons is allergic to peanuts and the powdered almond butter is still difficult to find in the stores. 🙂